Customer Reviews

Darwin: The Indelible Stamp- The Evolution of an Idea

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This is a review of "Darwin: The Indelible Stamp," which includes four of Darwin's books, edited and with commentary by James D. Watson of DNA fame.

Unlike most works of natural history from the mid-19th-century, Darwin's books remain in print for good reasons. Aside from their historic importance, they are well-written and fascinating for all lovers of nature with curious minds. This volume's content needs no review, so I will limit my comments to the book and the editorial decisions, especially since there are numerous other editions of these books readily available.

First, the praise. To have Darwin's four most important books in one volume saves bookshelf space and probably a few dollars as well. The book seems well-made, with clean printing and relatively opaque pages that minimize the ability to see the print on the page below the one you are reading. I find the skeleton on the cover to be rather morbid and the faux-19th-century leather book image on the paper jacket to be out-of-step with Watson's efforts to argue for Darwin's continued relevance, as if any were necessary.

Watson's commentary is too brief: an eight-page forward and three-page commentaries preceding each of the four books. These are interesting pages, mainly giving historical background to the text, rather than the connections between Darwin and modern genomic research, as promised on the back cover. But it doesn't take a James Watson to have written these commentaries.

Unfortunately, it takes more than a James Watson, apparently, to provide a truly first-rate edition. He is hardly a critical editor. The book is coy about what is left in and what is left out. Amazon's editorial review says that the four books are complete--but the book itself refrains from that claim, except for "Origin of Species." So what was left out? It's very hard to say. In two minutes of comparing it to other editions, however, I found that Watson's editorial decisions (surely prompted by the publisher) mainly involve the removal of illustrations. Though the volume does have several illustrations, there are more in other editions. What else did Watson edit out? He doesn't say. My sense is that the text is essentially in tact for all four books, but I can't be sure. Watson also remains silent about what editions of these books were made and why he choose these particular ones to reprint.

To his credit, the footnotes are at the foot of the page, rather than listed as endnotes. But they remain untouched by Watson, even lacking editorial updates of page numbers. That is, when Darwin refers to his own previous work, you get the page number for the edition he used, not for the edition in your hand. More important, the volume lacks an index. While other editions have indexes of various levels of detail, this volume, probably to cut down on the page length, offers no such service and is its greatest liability.

In sum, this is a good volume is you want a collection of Darwin's greatest hits without taking up too much space or money. If you intend to return to these books a lot, you'll want an index and so a different edition. If you want Watson's commentary alone, spend a half-hour at your library.

The Indelible Stamp is a collection of reasonably good books, but I find the edition to be lacking in some respects. There are numerous typos and errors, and I have not made it yet through even the first book. Also, different printings of these texts often have many good images to accompany them that are very condusive to an understanding of the book (for example, a map of the Beagle voyage). This collection has no images except those necessary in Expression of Emotions. However, it is an affordable way to get four of Darwin's best books, and the hardcover version is well put-together. I also found Watson's commentary very useful and enriching.
edit: Upon further reflection, I think these books are only suitable reading for someone who is in the field. I found them to be overall not very necessary, and I would recommend a more modern, clear, and concise book (Such as Ernst Mayr's "What Evolution Is") for the casual reader.

While excited about ordering the book, I was disappointed by one major factor. The publisher used incredibly narrow margins, and in a volume so thick, it makes this book incredibly tedious to read. I am not stuck by Darwin, but instead by Running Press.

A must have for a natural history library. Four of the classic books written by Charles Darwin in one book.